Dogs with a few patches of hair pasted on them.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Festus and Miss Kitty were sitting in a clearing by the lake. Kitty started to seduce Festus and when she thought she had him, said, "GO TO TOWN, FESTUS!"

And he jumped on Ruth and galloped back into town.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

*narrows eyes*
"Well ain't that a fine fiddle de dee!"

I liked Festus. Thought he was a good character and added to the show. Although he was generally viewed as an un-educated bumpkin and comic relief, when the chips were down Festus was a good deputy and smarter than most people gave him credit for.
I really liked it when he got a feature episode of his own.

Ken Curtis was one of the greatest "Character actors" of all time! He could be genteel, urbane, or the rube.

Look at the roles he had in some of the greatest movies Hollywood produced.

Being married to John Ford's daughter didn't hurt in the beginning before people realized how talented Ken was.

Ken Curtis - IMDb

In the John Wayne cavalry movies he always seemed to be on of the regimental singers. Just saw Rio Grande tonight and they did a wonderful rendition of the Bohemian Men, even if it’s time inappropriate.

Ken Curtis married Director John Ford's Daughter

....Dark Matter and Festus Logic we would be an advanced race. They are closing in on Dark Matter but we still have a long way to go.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I cannot find the audio or video clip where Sinatra announces his retirement (from Tommy Dorsey only) and announces Ken Curtis as his replacement.

Here a Ken Curtis big band song i found, just speculating that it was WWII time frame:

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Chester knew how to handle a sawed off shotgun. That's something I liked about the old ones before Dodge City got to be a metropolis.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Is more in the WWI timeline. And what are those girls doing with those caissons, anyway? They sure look 'patriotic'.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

The only movie I saw him in is Ford´s 'The Searchers' . I watch it often and marvel at his accent. I´m no American so I can´t tell where his accent is from. Is it natural or adapted for use in this film?

Regards, Ray

Another multi-talented actor in many Gunsmoke episodes, both radio and TV, was John Dehner. He played a variety of parts, and I thought always played them very well.

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Terry Lester

Ken Curtis was in a bunch of movies.
One of the last was the TV Western Conagher with Sam Elliot.
He played the rancher who was losing cows to rustlers.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I can't tell you the episode, but it was one of the violent, thirty-minute versions. Dehner plays the typical half-wit criminal that Matt Dillon has to kill on a regular basis. Most impressive, realistic dying scene ever. Maybe someone can remember the episode. John Dehner was almost a Gunsmoke semi-regular, and not always the bad guy. I'll bet he was in at least a dozen Gunsmokes over many years, but he played on a lot of other westerns, too, during the '50s and '60s. Good character actor.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is showing "Killer Shrews" with Ken Curtis at 5 AM (Central Time) Monday, Apr. 6. It's worth watching if only to see just how bad a movie can be. It would certainly rank very high on a list of the worst movies ever made.
CORRECTION: Tuesday, 5AM, Central Time

Dermott Fahy, squireen, F-A-HAYCH-Y.

Gunsmoke, a TV western series set in Dodge City, Kansas. I know that area pretty well, and all the surrounding areas for as far as you can ride a horse in a week. No mountains. No large cactus. No evergreen forests. No large raging rivers. No gold mines (or silver either). No deserts.

Kansas became a state in 1861. Had a US Marshal before statehood, and has a US Marshal to this day. Mr. Dillon carried a Colt Model 1873 revolver and a Winchester Model 1892 carbine, so statehood significantly preceded Mr. Dillon's service as a US Marshal, definitely not the old territory days or the "bloody Kansas" of the Civil War years.

Capitol is Topeka, which is where the US Marshal is likely to have been located, serving the federal courts. Absolutely zero responsibility or authority involving bar fights, street killings, domestic violence, cattle rustling, squabbles among buffalo hunters, or Indian raids. Certainly never operated a storefront office and jail (jail space was contracted with local sheriffs and federal inmates were incarcerated in Detroit, Michigan and a few other places).

Somehow, in the Hollywood version of events, Dodge City got along nicely without a city marshal, or a police department, or a sheriff's department. All they needed was Matt (and Chester, Newly, Clint, and Festus at times).

Always entertaining but no accuracy worth notice.

So, I am entering into the next stage of my professional life as a critic! Probably enough fans of Matt, Festus, Doc, and Kitty left to slap me down hard!

I was watching Gunsmoke a day or so ago—it was an episode with Fetus—and I noticed in the quick draw scene to start the show, that Matt’s holster tie-down or leg tie was not tied—it was simply hanging down. Has anyone ever noticed this?

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Possum—The other white meat!

some more gunsmoke trivia: james arness was a man with a sense of humor. i would guess there are many feet of outtake shots where he'd break out laughing in the middle of a scene.

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ask questions- then shoot!

Lobo, since when has Hollyweird ever let historical accuracy get in the way of what they want to put out?

Another one here who heard him sing at the county fair. Great actor and person.

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Front sight and squeeze

I don't think it was ever tied down.

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In Omnia Paratus

Phil I wonder how Arvo Ojala missed that? Wasn’t he the technical advisor, holster maker/prop provider and patsy for Matt to gun down in the streets of Dodge?

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Possum—The other white meat!

I think you are right. Actually Arvo is also the guy drawing against Matt
in the opening scene. Many think he shot before Matt did, but apparently
Matt hit. I will ask Mr. Google why Matt didn't tie his tie-down thong.
Will report back if I find out.

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In Omnia Paratus

When I was very young, my Dad would take the family to the American Royal in Kansas City every year. A big deal with the stock show, horse show, country music and usually something big like the Canadian Mounties. One year Festus was there, and Gunsmoke was one of the few shows we kids were allowed to watch. I was a big fan of both him and Ruth. My Dad took my brother and I up to the ring and he rode over, hopped off, and tossed me up in the saddle. I was about 5 at the time and had been riding since before I could walk. Naturally, I tried to take a bit of a ride, which was quickly shut dow. My Dad was red faced, Festus was laughing hard and gave me an autographed picture which I still have somewhere.

My favorite movie!

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

From The Searcher, “I’ll thank yew to take your hands off my fie-yan-cee!”

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

I asked one of our forum Gurus, Red Nichols, what he thought.
Here is his response:
"Can do no more than speculate. Can't sit down readily with a
thong tied down, including riding a horse, and hammer thong
had better be employed if one does tie it or the tilt of the grip
to the rear will drop the revolver out. Ojalas and their kind are
intentionally "loose as a goose" so no function to create natural
retention."

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In Omnia Paratus

"Chargin' a man 50 cents for taking a carbuncle off his backside."

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

As you watch different seasons of the early shows, there are some where it is tied down. I noticed this after being home after shoulder surgery and my wife was complaining about watching 20 years of the show.

Buck Taylor still has booth showing and selling his art work at Fort Worth Stock Show. Visit with him every year he's there..